Kingston’s mayor says a combination of things will be needed to improve safety along Highway 401 in eastern Ontario.

A series of serious collisions along the highway in the region this year has municipal leaders along the 401 corridor calling for changes to improve road safety.

Mayor Bryan Paterson said that for a safer highway to come about, a combination of factors will be needed.

“I personally don’t think there is any silver bullet to this,” Paterson said.

Paterson said physical improvements to the highway itself, such as the addition of a third lane and improved interchanges and the addition of more electronic road signs that alert drivers about weather or driving conditions would help.

In April, Kingston city council called on the ministries of transportation and environment to “consider additional safety measures, including prohibition” for vehicles carrying hazardous materials when the weather turns nasty.

The motion followed a 30-vehicle crash on Highway 401 in March during which 8,000 litres of fluorosilicic acid was spilled from a tractor-trailer. The driver of the transport was killed and 28 people were transported to hospital, many for treatment for exposure to the chemical. Many of the injured were police, firefighters and paramedics, and many of the casualties were transported to Kingston General Hospital for treatment.

“For Kingston, the fact that we are the regional centre means that, yes, if there are major accidents that often brings us into the equation, even if the accident is further up or down the highway,” Paterson said.

Last week, Prescott council formally called on the provincial government to widen Highway 401 to six lanes through eastern Ontario.

That request followed a crash that killed two people on the highway late last month near the Highway 416 interchange.

In its call for widening the highway, Prescott council endorsed a proposed motion written by four Conservative MPPs from eastern Ontario, including Leeds and Grenville’s Steve Clark.

The MPPs’ motion stated there have been a dozen fatal crashes on the stretch of the 401 between Cornwall and Trenton since May. Those crashes have claimed the lives of 16 people and injured 18 others.

The motion urges the government to put a six-lane expansion plan into its Southern Highways Program.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, at a meeting earlier this month in Kingston, said the province would add changeable message signs along the highway from Port Hope to the Quebec border to warn drivers of forecasts of bad weather.

Del Duca also announced a new forecasted driving conditions feature on Ontario 511 that predicts driving conditions based on forecasted weather, precipitation, wind and temperature.

In an email to the Brockville Recorder and Times, MTO spokesperson Brandy Duhaime wrote the consultation process will continue.

“Meetings will continue throughout the winter as we continue to share information and ideas to develop our next steps,” she wrote.